The present invention relates generally to improved mechanisms for use in an apparatus for developing one or more coils in one or more coil groups -- for example, a machine for developing coils that may be used as the winding in an inductive device such as a dynamoelectric machine. More specifically, the present invention relates to mechanisms that provide means for synchronizing a wire accomodating opening or shutter with movement of a flyer.
One prior art winding machine arrangement is illustrated in Smith U.S. Pat. No. 3,510,939. This patent illustrates winding coils on a coil form which is supported by an axially movable support member which in turn is coaxial with and internal to a flyer drive shaft. A flyer coupled with the drive shaft is rotatable about a central axis and develops coils of wire on the coil form. Developed coil turns are transferred from the free end of the coil form to a coil receiver either while other turns in the same coil are being developed or upon completion of the development of a given coil.
After having received the coil turns, the coil receiver is moved to a coil inserting or coil inject machine such as that disclosed in the Hill U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,536. Since a number of different size coils for a given coil group to be used to form one pole of an electric motor are often developed on a single form, the coil form is provided with steps or stages and relative axial movement between the form and flyer is effected so as to develop the different coils within a coil group.
In the aforementioned Smith machine, the form is moved in several steps, and may begin with the form retracted toward the head structure of the machine. Then, as all of the turns for one coil are developed, the form would be moved one incremental step toward the coil receiver and the turns of a second coil would be developed. This stepping process would be repeated until a coil group for one pole would have been developed. This stepping process, of course, requires the coil form support structure to be movable axially.
The drive shaft which imparts rotary motion to the flyer is a tubular shaft surrounding the support shaft for the coil form and wire is fed from a wire source along this tubular drive shaft to the flyer. This wire feed path is preferably kept close to the axis of the flyer drive shaft and coil form support so as to prevent undue stresses caused by bending and/or twisting of the wire as the flyer and drive shaft rotate.
There have been provided a series of stops which establish and control the incremental axial movement of the coil form and relatively complex means for preventing rotation of the coil form support structure. One way to prevent the rotation of the coil form would be to provide a holding mechanism for cooperation with the free or unsupported end of the coil form, but such an arrangement would interfere with the desired interrelationships between the coil form and coil receiver and particularly would interfere with the movement of developed coil turns to the coil turn receiver.
In the aforementioned Smith patent one disclosed means for preventing rotation of a coil form included pairs of cam operated shuttle bars which sequentially locked the coil form support structure to the machine frame while providing a gap between the coil form support structure and the machine frame opposite the instantaneous shuttle bar locking point through which gap wire could be fed to the flyer. As the flyer rotated, the shuttle bars reciprocated between diametrically opposed locking points and thus accelerated in a first direction, stopped and latched, and then accelerated in a direction opposite to the first, stopped and latched again for each revolution of the flyer. While quite effective, the stresses and vibrations due to inertial forces involved with this arrangement established, as a practical matter, an upper limit to the speed of operation of the entire apparatus.
Cam operated shuttle bars were also utilized in our application Ser. No. 806,057, filed Mar. 11, 1969, and entitled "Method And Apparatus for Forming Shaped Insulators And For Developing Coils Of A Magnetic Core," which issued May 25, 1971, as U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,818. To prevent rotation of a coil form with a flyer as disclosed in our U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,818, a coil form cooperates with an insertion tooling mechanism, e.g., injection tooling. It will be appreciated that in addition to limiting speed of operation, linearly reciprocating shuttle bars will also be a continuing cyclical stress generating source at all speeds of operation and will thus have a tendency at least to be a source of undesired noise as well as vibrations which can have a continuing deleterious affect over a period of time on other parts of the apparatus, including for example, hydraulic and pneumatic seals and connections, electrical connections, and mechanical elements and adjustments.
Although the foregoing background description has been in connection with apparatus and methods that are of particular utility in the dynamoelectric machine winding art, it will be appreciated that it would be desirable to provide an improved machine that may be utilized to overcome similar or related problems in other applications.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide improved wire path establishing mechanisms for winding machines.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a mechanism that establishes a continuously moving opening for the movement of winding material therethrough with the mechanism stopping and starting only when a winding flyer stops and starts during winding machine operation.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism that includes means extending between axially spaced apart first and second members for preventing relative rotation between the first and second members while allowing rotation of a wire handling structure which lies axially between the first and second members and extends radially beyond the axis of rotation of the wire handling structure.
It is a further object of the present invention to eliminate at least some of the inertial shock loads associated with reciprocating rotation preventing structures used heretofore with coil winding machines.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a moving shutter mechanism movable continuously with the flyer of a winding machine through which winding material is fed to the flyer.